On Jul 24, 2007, at 7:32 PM, Xin Liu wrote:
A user is simply confused if they are inconsistent. For instance, when the guy invokes "install" for gnuplot (and he has MacTex installed), he is relaxed to find that no extra tex system is installed. However, when later a newer version of gnuplot is available and he invokes "upgrade", he suddenly finds that an additional tex system is installed! Isn't this a bad user experience caused by the inconsistence?
yes, but it can be solved by changing the portfile (and perhaps adding a MacTex portfile?)
At least I didn't feel good, and I reported this as a bug and spent time looking into the source code only to discover that this is a "feature" and I kind of wasted my time.
You didn't waste your time, it's just that your suggested fix causes other problems. If you can think of a better way to do it, I'm sure Macports would be happy to incorporate your changes.
As to the solution for the problem, it really depends on the attitude towards external dependencies. I'd suggest (maybe these are completely wrong, because I haven't read through previous discussions and may miss a lot of points):
1. If ultimately the external dependencies will be removed completely, "install" command should treat bin/lib style dependencies the same way as "upgrade" command, and portfile authors should be advised not to introduce any external dependencies using bin/lib style.
This is the current status. We want to minimize as much as possible external dependencies, so bin/lib style dependencies should generally not be used (unless there's a really good idea to use it). -- Daniel J. Luke +========================================================+ | *---------------- dluke@geeklair.net ----------------* | | *-------------- http://www.geeklair.net -------------* | +========================================================+ | Opinions expressed are mine and do not necessarily | | reflect the opinions of my employer. | +========================================================+